We fell short of our Fall Fundraiser goal of 2,500 donations. Help us catch up ⏩ Give Now

Disney’s musical money machine

Lisa Napoli Aug 17, 2007
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Disney’s musical money machine

Lisa Napoli Aug 17, 2007
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: The malls will probably be empty tonight. Apparently, kids across America are staying home to watch a movie on the Disney Channel. It’s the sequel to High School Musical, something of a cross between Grease and the Rocky Horror Picture show. Disney is making a bundle on this. Here’s Lisa Napoli:


Lisa Napoli: If you have a kid, chances are good you’ve heard this song over and over and over and over again.

The soundtrack to the first made-for-TV flick topped the charts with seven million copies sold last year. 160 million people around the world have seen High School Musical.

Media analyst Ed Martin says even before tonight’s sequel debuts, Disney has outdone itself with the cross-media promotion.

Ed Martin: You’ve had the movie released twice on DVD, you’ve had the soundtrack, you’ve had video games, a concert tour, High School Musical shirts and socks and hats, sweatshirts and lunchboxes and everything you can imagine for sale.

Oh, and don’t forget 2,000 high school productions, song lyrics downloaded half a million times, a theatrical film and a Broadway Show, too.

Billboard’s Jeff Mayfield says there’s no doubt the new soundtrack that came out Tuesday will be No. 1 next week.

The High School Musical machine is expected to generate $100 million in profit by the end of the year.

Does that make Disney college material?

I’m Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.